Dr. David Gregory, CMENC State Advisor

David Gregory, Conductor of Tara Winds and Associate Professor of Music at Reinhardt College, has conducted elementary, junior high, high school, community college, university, and professional bands. A former director of bands at Hardaway High School in Columbus (GA), Forest Park High School in Forest Park (GA), and the University of Florida in Gainesville, (FL), and former Clayton County (GA) Coordinator of Instrumental Music, Dr. Gregory served as Assistant to the Superintendent in that school system for twelve years until his retirement from public school work in January 2003. Dr. Gregory is a Past President of the National Band Association and a nationally recognized clinician and speaker through his “Art of Leadership” workshops.  At Reinhardt College Dr. Gregory teaches Music Education courses, conducts the Wind Ensemble, supervises student teacher interns, and is coordinator of the Music Education program.  He recently was appointed the state CMENC advisor for GMEA for the 2007-09 biennium.

Bands under Dr. Gregory’s direction have received invitations to perform at virtually every music conference of regional and national significance, including the National MENC Convention, the American School Band Directors Association National Convention, the Mid- East Instrumental Music Conference, the University of South Carolina Band Clinic and Conductors’ Symposium, the Western International Band Clinic, the Florida State University Tri-State Music Festival, the SEUS Concert Band Festival, the University of Southern Mississippi Conductors’ Conference (2x), the University of Georgia High School Music Festival (4x), the CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference (4x), the Atlanta International Band and Orchestra Conference, the Southern Division MENC Convention, the American Bandmasters Association National Convention (2x), GMEA state conferences (10x), and the Midwest Band Clinic (3x). Gregory continues to make numerous appearances as conductor, clinician and presenter at regional and national music conferences as well as all-state and honor band events throughout the United States.  He has presented clinics/workshops at the Midwest Clinic on two occasions and at the GMEA Conference five times. Tara Winds was the 1996 recipient of the Sudler “Scroll of Honor,” and his Hardaway High School Band was honored by the John Philip Sousa Foundation as one of the nation’s most outstanding high school programs for the decades 1960-1980.  A highlight of Dr. Gregory’s career is the distinct and singular honor of having been invited to perform at 35 state, regional or national conventions.

Many personal and professional awards, recognitions, and appointments have been awarded Dr. Gregory during his career. He has received the MAC Outstanding Bandleader award for the state of Georgia, the Southeastern United States Concert Band Clinic Citation of Excellence, the National Band Association Citation of Excellence in 1978, 1984, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Phi Delta Kappa Excellence in Leadership Education Award, and the Sudler Foundation “Order of Merit.” In 1998 he was inducted into the Phi Beta Mu “Georgia Bandmasters Hall of Fame” and in 2003 received the Phi Beta Mu “Outstanding Bandmaster Award” for the state of Georgia. Dr. Gregory was featured on the cover of The Instrumentalist magazine with the lead article for the April 2003 edition of that publication.

Maintaining a regular schedule of appearances, Dr. Gregory has received invitations to serve in thirty-one states, and has conducted all-state bands in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Alaska. He has served as clinician and lecturer throughout the country, and his band activities have taken him across the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and the European continent where twice he has appeared as guest conductor of La Banda dell’Esercito of Rome, Italy. Additionally, in 2007 he was chosen to serve as an adjudicator for the La Bacchetta d’Oro national band contest of Italy.  Currently he is a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation “Legion of Honor” and “Sudler Scroll” Selection Committees, and he served eight years as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Band Association.  His past and present professional affiliations include Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha, Phi Beta Mu, the National Band Association, Music Educators National Conference, College Band Directors National Association, Georgia Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Phi Delta Kappa, the Florida Bandmasters Association, and the American Bandmasters Association.